Have you ever been caught by surprise by seeing an old friend that you haven’t had the opportunity to see in a long time?  I had the fortune of that happening to me last week.  While I was at work, I came through the newsroom and noticed someone standing off in the distance and knew that it wasn’t someone that I see regularly.  I thought to myself surely that can’t be my old friend Kevin that I used to work with!  As he turned around and I recognized the face, a smile began to grow across my face!  It was the forementioned friend.  I had not had the pleasure of talking with him for almost 7 years! 

     We had played email tag once but somewhere along the way the spam filter caught one of the emails and then it was out of sight out of mind with both of our busy schedules.  We both work for the same company, but he is now in Chicago and I’m still here in Michigan.  After spending some time catching up and talking about old tales, we exchanged our email address with each other once again,  and I had to get back to work.

     I should explain that this friend is a guy has a love and a passion for hunting, just as I do.  We spent a couple of days in the deer woods of Michigan a few times along with my dad and cousin.  We all got along great and told a few stories and lies along the way, but it was typical deer camp activities that we all hold so dear to our souls.  I wished that we had gotten to spend more time in the field hunting together than we did at work, but that is how things go with busy schedules.  Soon he took a great job in Chicago and moved away, and I found out the other day, he hasn’t been able to get back to Michigan to deer hunt since.  Hopefully this year or soon he can come back and spend a deer season here with his brother and nephew! 

     We sometimes take friends, family, and hunting buddies for granted, and before we know it they have either passed on or moved away.  If you have the opportunity to contact an old friend or buddy that you used to hunt or fish with, take the time and call, write, or drop them an email.  You won’t be disappointed.  Kevin and I have wrtiten each other back and forth now this week and have our email address snafu worked out.  This way hopefully we will stay in touch and maybe even get to spend a day hunting again in the future.  If not, atleast we can swap lies!!!!!